All Big 4 Banks Scrap ATM Charges

After the CBA announced it would be the first to scrap the bank charges at its 3,400 ATMs, Westpac and ANZ followed its lead in also removing the fee, with involves an estimated 250 million withdrawals annually - worth $500 million in fees.

The move comes as the Commonwealth Bank faces massive fines after being accused of "serious and systemic" breaches of anti-money laundering and terrorism financing laws.

Australia's fifth largest bank, Macquarie, said it did not charge ATM fees and would refund the A$2 fee if their customer was slugged by another bank.

About 40 per cent of the 50 million cash machine withdrawals a month has a charge attached.

The announcements came two days after Treasurer Scott Morrison announced draft legislation to hold bank executives to "heightened standards of behaviour" and bolster trust and confidence in the financial system.

Australia's four biggest banks have bowed to years of consumer pressure in Australia and have abolished the ATM withdrawal fees for customers of other banks.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's group executive of retail banking services Matt Comyn said the move to axe the fee was prompted by consumers' disapproval. Did you avoid ATMs from other banks because of them?

CBA's group executive of retail banking services Matt Comyn said ATM fees had always been "unpopular" and consumers were fed up with been stung.

"As Australia's largest bank, with one of the largest branch and ATM networks, we think this change will benefit many Australians and hopefully demonstrate our willingness to listen and act on customer feedback".

Australians forked out about $500 million in fees in the past year for withdrawals from ATMs owned by institutions other than their own, News Corp Australia analysis of RBA data finds.

ANZ had been "actively working on how we provide fee-free ATMs" before deciding to remove charges for non-ANZ users of its 2,300-strong cash-machine network from October, said Fred Ohlsson, ANZ group executive.

NAB Chief Customer Officer of Consumer Banking and Wealth, Andrew Hagger, said the decision was about making banking fairer.

"Imagine how we could get better banking for all Australians if we had a banking royal commission".

"There is no way that CommBank ever would have made this move without the public pressure on them over multiple scandals and the threat of an impending royal commission or parliamentary commission of inquiry", said Greens Party's treasury spokesman Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.